A Warning about Amazons Lost Shipment Policy.

[vangvace]

The resellers on Amazon have mostly become opportunistic thieves.

So it is like coral venders? ;Hilarious

I haven't had much issue with deliveries outside of "prime" becoming 3-4 days, but when I was stationed overseas it was a week to arrive so I am numb to it. I have had a couple items refunded enroute to me as well.

Mis-shipped items... thankfully the only thing I have experienced is the previous home owners didn't update their address when they ordered from Home Depot.

 

[ca1ore]

Amazon have certainly had their issues throughout COVID. Seems like things have mostly returned to normal, though I agree that UPS and particularly USPS remain issues. My heart sinks also when I see a package has been handed off to USPS .... means that tracking is essentially useless. Good to know about 'changing' return/mis-delivery procedures.

Back in May, I had two 160 buckets of IO 'delivered' ….. only not actually to me. Was handled by amazon delivery so getting a replacement was no problem. About a month later, one of my neighbors who Summer in Maine, called to say there were two buckets on their back porch. LOL.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Don't get too much lately but my USPS carrier has said Amazon deliveries have tripled since C 19 began.

 

[S2G]

I think with everything going online due to fear it has just increased workload so much they cant keep up. I cant even imagine the amount of lost packages going on right now. The carriers weren't great to begin with & now the workload is tripled.

Before this started I ordered a certain item 4 times. Everytime it would be out for delivery & by end of day then never show up. Amazon refunded but how does it get that far then dissapear

 

[vangvace]

Oh, I should have added that most of my Amazon packages are delivered by Amazon and not a 3rd party.

 

[92Miata]

Has anyone ever received someone elses item from Amazon in the mail? I have. I received a package addressed to another person that lived maybe 3 or 4 blocks away. I called Amazon to report it thinking they would send someone to pick it up. Nope, the lady asked if I would take it to the persons home for them to which I said I would not. The customer service lady then told me to "throw it away or just keep it". I did not feel right about that so I just waited until one of the 5 or 6 Amazon trucks in my neighborhood drove by and I flagged them down and gave them the package to deliver to the person. Now I do not know if the package was ever delivered or not but at east it was out of my hands.

Unsolicited packages are the property of whoever receives them. If they send something to the wrong address, that person owns it - it's illegal for them to try to get it back.

They said no to your suggestion because it would involve multiple felonies.

Nothing they can do.

(History: companies used to send unsolicited packages to people and then bill them if they didn't send them back at their own shipping expense)

 

[ruegaroo]

I try to avoid ordering from Amazon now for multiple reasons.

 

[Sump Crab]

Unsolicited packages are the property of whoever receives them. If they send something to the wrong address, that person owns it - it's illegal for them to try to get it back.

They said no to your suggestion because it would involve multiple felonies.

Nothing they can do.

(History: companies used to send unsolicited packages to people and then bill them if they didn't send them back)

So if amazon drops off someone's brand new computer that is addressed to them, not me, at my house then I legally own it?

 

[danieyella]

I've had some odd experiences with amazon recently as well. Returned a $215 2TB SSD and a $72 PSU, all documentation states refund to original payment method (with my card info). Both items were refunded to gift cards instead. Had to call on both and they seemed "confused" by it but didn't push it or argue with me, luckily. I also returned a little $7 item after all this and paid extra close attention to how I selected options, ended up with a gift card on that one as well, but I didn't bother calling.

 

[ruegaroo]

So if amazon drops off someone's brand new computer that is addressed to them, not me, at my house then I legally own it?

I don't think that's correct. There's a difference between unsolicited packages and mistaken packages. If your name is on it but you didn't order it then you can keep it. If someone else's name is on it you should contact the seller and they may tell you to keep it or they will have someone pick it up.

 

[92Miata]

So if amazon drops off someone's brand new computer that is addressed to them, not me, at my house then I legally own it?

If it's got your name or your address on it - you own it. Federal law.

If it doesn't - the feds don't handle this -it depends on the state. Most states just require you to 'make an effort to contact either the shipper, transport company, or the addressee '.

UPS/etc generally don't want anything to do with it - so as soon as you say "this isn't mine" and the driver says "meh", you own it.

 

[Devaji]

I basically quit amazon at the beginning of the year. They keep using USPS which doesn't deliver to my house and I have to go to the post office and I won't start about the lady there who yells at me every time because it's my house adress instead of PO Box.

I was like wow sounds like Jackson then I say where you are at. yup same same.
here is the trick
most shippers use software and having home and Po box messes with it. so often times they just take off the PO box then we get nasty looks from the PO or here they just return the pkg .

here is the work around add the Po box to your name line they legally cant not change that.
john doe ( box #)
123 anystreet
box # again
town, st
zip
phone #

half the time I get amazon USPS and the other half UPS so must put both.
good luck!

 

[Hincapiej4]

Just a heads up to my fellow reefers that buy lots of stuff on Amazon.
I had an experience and I though it was just my bad luck in getting the wrong person, that was until I met a friend last week who does home restoration for rich clients. He had the exact same experience with Amazon and he told me it seems to be a new policy that started a few weeks ago.

So heres what happened. I bought a set of extension tubes for my Nikon DSLR camera and the package was shipped by UPS.
On the day of arrival I noticed it was signed for by someone I did not know. I called UPS and they put me on a long hold and then came back and said that it was accidentally delivered to the wrong address and that I should contact Amazon and tell them to contact UPS so that they can file a claim with UPS and get refunded. And yes I did ask where they delivered it but the lady said they cannot give out that info ;Meh I am still wondering how they even know what address it went to.

Anyway no big problem, lost packages have happened before and Amazons normal response is that they will ship out another one ASAP or they will refund me.

NOPE NOT this time and trust me I have only maybe had six package problems over a 15 year period and I spend $20K+ with them Annually. My friend spends over $350K annually with them and he got the same response from them.

The CSR lady at Amazon said no problem I will do new order and then a minute later she says the computer will not let her do a new order and that she would have talk to her supervisor, so I was put on hold for 15 minutes and then she said sorry but we will have to do an investigation with UPS and when we get a refund guarantee we will refund you. I was shocked so I asked her why don't you just call UPS now and they will tell you that it is their fault. She said no she does not handle that area and it would have to go through another dept. Now I kind of got angry and said so you guys expect me to wait out a month for a refund on an item that UPS admits they lost. Then I asked her to look at my account and see how much money I have spent with them in 2020 alone. She says yes I can see you buy a lot of stuff on Amazon and she said hold on a minute let me talk to my supervisor again. Ten minutes later she comes back and says they are going to help me out and issue a gift card for the value of the item. I just said thanks and then came off the phone. I then placed the same order again with BHphoto like I normally would have done and used my gift card on some other purchases.

My friend said he had the exact same issue over a $30 item and he nearly exploded with them on the phone. They also eventually gave him a refund but he said to me that it seemed to be based on his account size why they eventually did it.

My thinking is that UPS and USPS have gotten so bad of late that Amazon has decided that their open policy of just issuing refunds or sending new products is killing them, so they seem to have taken that ability away from the CSR's and seem to only allow it if a high ranking supervisor signs off on it.

So my message is to you is be careful and don't expect that same customer first attitude from Amazon because the customer is always right approach seems to have been removed.

Not for nothing..but the customer is not always right. In this case, it wasn't your fault. But I don't expect to always be refunded. Which is why when I buy something, I usually buy it when it's in my hands.

 

[Sump Crab]

I don't think that's correct. There's a difference between unsolicited packages and mistaken packages. If your name is on it but you didn't order it then you can keep it. If someone else's name is on it you should contact the seller and they may tell you to keep it or they will have someone pick it up.

So my story was regarding a package delivered by amazon to my address but had the address and name of a different individual who had actually ordered the package that was mistakenly delivered to my house.

 

[Adamantium]

Fine a claim with your credit card company

I’d be careful with this. Amazon can blacklist you if you do this. I’m not sure how many times you’d have to do it, but it is possible.

 

[KStatefan]

I’d be careful with this. Amazon can blacklist you if you do this. I’m not sure how many times you’d have to do it, but it is possible.

How would I survive?

If I do not receive a product I payed for and the company I purchased it from will not do anything I will do what ever I can to get my money back.

 

[Adamantium]

How would I survive?

If I do not receive a product I payed for and the company I purchased it from will not do anything I will do what ever I can to get my money back.

I’m just saying I would make a concerted effort to get a proper refund before going this route. Push back, and if they still dont relent, sure. Charge it back.

 

[Pntbll687]

Working in distribution we see this ALL THE TIME with defective/damaged product.

Amazon probably has an allotment of money they use to send out new items when this happens, and then files a claim with ups/usps/fed ex for the item. They have probably used up all that money with the increase in business. They now have to file the claim, wait for the credit from the shipping company, then issue you a refund. It's not an uncommon practice.

 

[Ippyroy]

I was like wow sounds like Jackson then I say where you are at. yup same same.
here is the trick
most shippers use software and having home and Po box messes with it. so often times they just take off the PO box then we get nasty looks from the PO or here they just return the pkg .

here is the work around add the Po box to your name line they legally cant not change that.
john doe ( box #)
123 anystreet
box # again
town, st
zip
phone #

half the time I get amazon USPS and the other half UPS so must put both.
good luck!

Thanks. Sounds like a good plan.

 

[ryeguyy84]

99% of the time if I see something on Amazon or eBay I'll look at who's selling it and find it cheaper on their own webpage. People selling on Amazon pay 15% fees and ebays around 10% so they usually just pass along the fee to the customer.